Train time and speed indicator



(No Model.)

J. A. WILKIN.

TRAIN TIME AND SPEED INDICATOR.

No. 891,671. Patented Oct. 23, 1888.

UNIrnn Smarts JOSEPH A. XVILKIN, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

TRAEN THJiE AND SPEED iNDiGATGP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 391,671, 66237331 23, 1888.

Serial No. 279,242. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J osnrH A. Win s, of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of'New Jersey, have invented an Improvement in Train Time and Speed Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a device that is intended when in the hands of a conductor, engineer, brakeman, ortrain-starter, when set at the known speed a railroad-train should travel, to indicate the time that the train should be at any given station, and said device is adapted for use as a guide to a conductor or engineer, proving to him in the course of any given traintrip whether or not his train is on time at various designated points, and if not, how much out of time, the speed at which the train should travel having been previously determined by the railroad officials.

My improved device consists of a metal case having a glass face, and in which is a movable cylinder, around which cylinder is wrapped and secured a sheet of paper, metal, or similar material, upon which is printed or otherwise marked scales increasing, preferably, in a regular rotation from, say, twenty miles an hour,which would represent the slowest speed, to sixty miles an hour, which would represent the highest speed, and in said case there are movable slides operated by finger-pieces, upon the face of which slides the stations are marked at distances apart corresponding to the actual number of miles, and there is also a circular disk marked with figures to represent hours and operated by a finger-button.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of my improved indicator. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the same. Fig. 3 is a section at the line :0 m; Fig. 4, a section at the line 3 Fig. 5, a section at the line 2 z,- and Fig. 6 is an elevation of part of the cylinder, showing some of the scales.

The metal case I prefer to employ is constructed in the following manner:

a represents the circular metal case, extending almost the length of the indicator, and said case is slotted longitudinally and provided with stiffening longitudinal ribs a.

1) represents L-shaped frames, having the ends I) connecting the same, and round ends I)", in which round ends are the nutsff,which are secured to the case. There are slides c 0,

having finger-pieces c c, and these slides lie against the ribs c, and over said slides and is a glass, it. The cylinder (1, made preferably of wood, is received within the metal case a, and there are end rods, (2 c, to said cylinder, one end of which, 0, projects beyond the end b'- of the case, and has a thumb-nut, e", by which the cylinder is revolved. There are thumb-screws g g for the nutsff, which are secured to the metal ends 6', and said nuts are slotted for the end rods, 0 e, and the thumbscrewsg g,when in place, bear against the surface of the end rods, 0 c, and hold the parts of the case together and form the tension,when tightened, to draw the parts of the case to gether and clamp the slides c c and cylinder (1 in such a manner that those parts cannot be moved.

Inone end of the case, and passing through the end face, I), is a button, 72., and upon said button beneath said face is a disk, '2'. This disk is numbered circumferentially with nu mbers from 1 to 12, and said numbers can be seen one at a time, as shown in Fig. 1, through the glass 70. The faces of the slides c c, where they show beneath the glass it, are divided at intervals with lines and lettered to indicate the different stations existing along the line of the railroad. The letters indicating these stations are preferably those used in the railroads code of telegraph-signals, the same being understood by its cmploys, and these station-marks are put at distances apart representing the actual number of miles that there is between them, and this is determined as hereinafter described, one slide 0 being lettered in one direction for the outbound trip and the other slide in the other direction for the inbound trip.

The cylinder (1 is covered by a sheet of paper, metal, or similar material, d, that is engraved or ruled over in the following manner: Across the head of the sheet numbers are put, commencing with 20, 25, 30, and so on every consecutive live up to 60, and directly beneath each number in vertical columns ll are are marks that denote miles according to their respective scales, each one of these scales representing the number of miles per hour that heads the column. The scale is made in the following manner, the scale of sixty miles be" between them and the L-shaped frames I) there ing made first, as the most convenient. This scale is shown in Fig. 1. The length of the scale from 1 to can be made any length desired, and the same is subdivided into sixty equal parts, and each five partsis marked with its proper number. Thescale of fifty-five miles an hour would be marked with 60 on the same horizontal line with the mark 55 on the 60 scale, because as these marks indicate both miles and minutes of travel it will be apparent that the train to travel fifty-five miles in sixty minutes must be governed by the scale that is fifty-five sixtieths of the 60 scale, and the scale of fifty miles an hour will have its 60 mark on the same horizontal line with the 50 mark on the 60 scale, and so on down the grade, the scales becoming finer until the scale of 2 0 is reached, at which the 60 mark will be on the same horizontal with the 20 of the 60 scale. The vertical length of these scales can be added to and continued to any desired length.

To illustrate the working of the device, (see Fi 1,) and taking for illustration the train which is to leave J. G.,or Jersey Oity,at eight o clock, as indicated by the number 8 on the disk 1', and which train is to travel at the rate of sixty miles an hour, it will be seen that this train must pass Z. K. which is five miles, in five minutes, and R. J which is a fraction over twenty miles, in a little over twenty minutes, and U. N., which is forty-six miles, in forty-six minutes, providing the train is on time, and if not on time a comparison of the conductors watch with the time that the train should be at U. N. will indicate the number of minutes behind time, and from the 60 scale (shown in Fig. 1) it will be apparent that it will consume an hour and twenty-eight minutes for the train to arrive at P. 0., its destination. If, now, the cylinder (1 is revolved so as to bring the 35-mile scale under the glass It, the number 60 will be near X. G., and will represent that the train traveling at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour will take an hour, or its sixty minutes, to go slightly farther than X. G., and the divisions on the 35 scale will represent in their relation to the stations the number of minutes that the train will consume, if on time, in going from one station to the next, and so on through the trip of the train, and this scale would show that the train will consume two hours and thirty-three minutes in going from J. O. to its destination, P. O. The correctness of the scale is illustrated in the fact that the station G. S. is indicated on the 60 scale at fifty-nine, or one minute less than the hour, while on the 30 scale it would be represented by twice as much, or an hour and fifty-eight minutes, the same representing half the speed.

The stationmarks on the slides c 0 may, if desired, be so positioned as to conform to varying speeds of travel upon upgrades, downgrades,oronthelevel,thetotallength of theindicated stations being made at the average speed; and these slides are interchangeable and easily removable from the case to permit other slides differently or specially graded to be inserted in their place.

My improved indicator is adapted for the use of engineers, conductors, trainstarters, or other employs, and is in such form and of such size that it can be conveniently carried in the pocket of the person using it, or can be conveniently attached by a couple of small brackets to an engine or railway baggage-car; and it is adjustable not only for the speed of the train, but for the time the train leaves its starting-point,and will indicate from the scales described the time at which the train should be at its station after the time it leaves its starting-point; and my improved indicator is especially adapted for extra trains or exeursion trains to be run by it-such trains, for illustration, as have no schedule time-and it is useful for regular trains delayed by accident, because they can afterward be run by it on regular time, and my improved indicator makes it possible to dispense with especially made up time-tables for extra or excursion trains,which time-tables are usually made up by conductors or engineers, and are liable to have errors in them, which may be the cause of accident, whereas an erroris not possible with my indicator.

I am aware that station'indicators and railway-station indicators upon cars have heretofore been made, but the same are different from my device, and are not intended to accomplish the same purpose.

I am aware that before my invention calcir lating devices have been employed, in which devices there was a rotary cylinder having scales longitudinally marked thereon and having endless bands with a numbered surface, which could be shifted in their relation to the cylinders, and in which device there was an independent slide extending across the band and cylinders and movable lengthwise of the same, and in which devices there was a section of the cylinder having a numbered surface which was movable independent of the main cylinder, but on the same axial line. These devices are different from mine, and have no means of clamping and holding the cylinder and slides rigidly in place, and I do not lay any claim to such devices.

I claim as my invention 1. The train time and speed indicator consisting of a cylinder or rotary device for graduated and numbered scales longitudinally arranged upon the same, indicating time and distance, and slides movable longitudinally of the cylinder, and upon which are marks indicating stations, and a case for containing the same, substantially as set forth.

2. The train time and speed indicator having a cylinder upon the face of whichare numbered scales longitudinally arranged and indicating time and distance, slides movable longitudinally of the cylinder, and upon the face of which are letters or signs indicating stations in opposite directions, and with mech= anism, substantially as described, for moving and clamping the cylinder and slides, and a case for holding the same, substantially as set forth.

3. The train time and speed indicator having a cylinder upon the face of which are numbered scales indicating time and distance, slides movable longitudinally of the cylinder, and upon the face of which are letters or signs indicating stations in opposite directions, and with mechanism, substantially as described, for moving and clamping the cylinder and slides, and a case for holding the same, and a circular numbered disk at one end of the case and a button for revolving the same, substantially as set forth.

4. The train time and speed indicator consisting of the cylinder (2, upon whose surface are numbered scales for time and distance, movable slides c c for station designations, a numbered disk, t, for hours, and a button, it,

for moving the same, and a case consisting of the portion a, the ribs a, the frame b, the glass it, and mechanism, substantially as set forth, for connecting the parts together and clamping them, substantially as specified.

5. The train time and speed indicator con sisting of the cylinder (Z, upon whose surface are numbered scales for time and distance, movable slides c c for station designations, a numbered disk, 2, for hours, and a button, IL, for moving the same, and a case consisting of the portion a, the ribs a, the frame I), the glass k, the rounded ends If, the slotted nuts ff, the end rods, 6 e, to the cylinder (Z, a thumb-nut, a and thumb-screws g g, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 25th day of April, 1888.

J. A. XVILKIN.

Vitnesses:

GEO, T. PINCKNEY, HAROLD SERRELL. 

